How Americans Waste Time at Work (Infographic)

Double click to enlarge

Its Fridays, between 3pm and 5pm, take a look around your office and you will find most of your colleagues will probably be doing something different to working.

Most of them will be talking to one of the co-worker; others will be looking at their Facebook, while some others will be reading the news or checking Yahoo. About half of them will take between 30 minutes and an hour before getting ready to start working again.

A survey made by salary.com to 1000 people about their time-wasting habits, gives us better insights about which are the activities, the days, the times and the workers who waste more time.

According to the survey, we can say that those in the medical or health industry are the ones that waste less time, try guessing which industrial sector is the one that most time wastes? If you thought it was the government, you’re right.

If you have an office in New York or the East region, you’re probably wasting 12%, compared to those with a workplace in San Francisco or Texas (south central and pacific regions), who admitted to waste 14% of their time.

Most will be surprised at who are the ones that waste more time, would you think its younger people? Men or women? According to the survey, 73% of men compared to only 66% of women.

• 82% of employees aged 26-32  
• 76% of workers 33-39
• 75% of workers age 18-25

And there’s bad news for those companies that think blocking the sites is the solution. Nowadays everyone has a phone were they can login to their social media profiles, watch videos or read the news.

The positive side is that 60% of the people said after they browsed the Internet or talked for a while with their colleagues their productivity increased. We’re not machines or robots and it’s normal that in an 8 hour shift, people stand up, stretch their legs, talk to the person beside them and try to release some stress and put their minds somewhere else. It’s a positive exercise. And let’s not forget that while we may be losing 30 minutes or more in the office, we’re also thinking of work when we go home or sometimes check our work emails.

Next time you have an important assignment, leave it for Tuesday between 9Am-11Am, it’s the most productive time of the week. And if the assignment involves looking for an office, even if it’s Friday afternoon, you can call OfficeList and we’ll waste no time to find the right office space for you.